Bertrand Russell : Why I'm Not A Christian

by frankiespeakin 11 Replies latest jw friends

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  frankiespeakin

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell

  Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS [ 1 ] (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. [ 2 ] At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these in any profound sense. [ 3 ] He was born in Monmouthshire, into one of the most prominent aristocratic families in Britain

  Russell led the British "revolt against idealism" in the early 20th century. [ 5 ] He is considered one of the founders of analytic philosophy along with his predecessor Gottlob Frege and his protégé Ludwig Wittgenstein. He is widely held to be one of the 20th century's premier logicians. [ 2 ] He co-authored, with A. N. Whitehead, Principia Mathematica, an attempt to ground mathematics on logic. His philosophical essay "On Denoting" has been considered a "paradigm of philosophy." [ 6 ] His work has had a considerable influence on logic, mathematics, set theory, linguistics, computer science (see type theory and type system), and philosophy, especially philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics.

  Russell was a prominent anti-war activist; he championed anti-imperialism [ 7 ] [ 8 ] and went to prison for his pacifism during World War I. [ 9 ] Later, he campaigned against Adolf Hitler, then criticised Stalinisttotalitarianism, attacked the United States of America's involvement in the Vietnam War, and was an outspoken proponent of nuclear disarmament. [ 10 ] In 1950, Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought."

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F6J8o7AAe8

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXPdpEJk78E
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  designs
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  never a jw

  My kind of guy, along with Voltaire and Barruch Spinoza.
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  neverscreamagain

  I like many of his quotations - here is one of my favorites:

  "The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts."
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  chapstick

  Russell was a humanist and a cofirmed believer in euginics and mass de-population of the "lower stocks"...
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  frankiespeakin

  Chap,

  Russell was a humanist and a cofirmed believer in euginics and mass de-population of the "lower stocks"...

  Can you provide some references where this is stated? His writtings are pretty prolific.
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  frankiespeakin

  Views on religion

  Russell described himself both as an agnostic and an atheist. [ 71 ] For most of his adult life Russell maintained that religion is little more than superstition and, despite any positive effects that religion might have, it is largely harmful to people. He believed religion and the religious outlook (he considered Communism and other systematic ideologies to be forms of religion) serve to impede knowledge, foster fear and dependency, and are responsible for much of the war, oppression, and misery that have beset the world. He was a member of the Advisory Council of the British Humanist Association and President of Cardiff Humanists until his death.

  Views on society

  Main article: Bertrand Russell's views on society

  Political and social activism occupied much of Russell's time for most of his life. Russell remained politically active almost to the end of his life, writing to and exhorting world leaders and lending his name to various causes. He was noted for saying "No one can sit at the bedside of a dying child and still believe in God." [ 73 ]

  Russell determined man to be "the product of causes ... his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms, that no fire, no heroism, no intensity of thought and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labors of the ages, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, that the whole temple of man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins—all these things, if not quite beyond dispute, are so nearly certain, that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand ... " [ 74 ]
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  chapstick

  "I do not pretend that birth control is the only way in which population can be kept from increasing... War... has hitherto been dissappointing in this respect, but perhaps bacteriological war may prove more effective. If a Black Death could be spread throughout the world once in every generation survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full... The state of affairs might be somewhat unpleasant, but what of that? Really high-minded people are indifferent to happiness, especially other people's... There are three ways of securing a society that shall be stable as regards population. The first is that of birth control, the second that of infanticide or really destructive wars, and the third that of general misery except for a powerful minority...
  
  War has been throughout history, the chief source of social cohesion by providing an external necessity for a society to accept political rule."

  B. Russell

  There are countless quotes on the web as well as direct recordings of his personal views. Many social elites desire to eliminate the masses...
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  frankiespeakin

  Here's a full quote from Google books so we can see the context instead of cherry picking a partial paragraph I would at least start my reading from pge 112 to off a few pages past the words you quoted so we can get the context if we really want understand the words:

  http://books.google.com/books?id=IZ3miaHwjdUC&pg=PA116&lpg=PA116&dq=I+do+not+pretend+that+birth+control+is+the+only+way+in+which+population+can+be+kept+from+increasing...+War...+has+hitherto+been+disappointing+in+this+respect,+but+perhaps+bacteriological+war+may+prove+more+effective.+If+a+Black+Death+could+be+spread+throughout+the+world+once+in+every+generation&source=bl&ots=OeiiQKmlye&sig=158hH4jsvkXOdKmJe0ZtDnd2owM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=famCUa3vGsruqwH-rIAI&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=I%20do%20not%20pretend%20that%20birth%20control%20is%20the%20only%20way%20in%20which%20population%20can%20be%20kept%20from%20increasing...%20War...%20has%20hitherto%20been%20disappointing%20in%20this%20respect%2C%20but%20perhaps%20bacteriological%20war%20may%20prove%20more%20effective.%20If%20a%20Black%20Death%20could%20be%20spread%20throughout%20the%20world%20once%20in%20every%20generation&f=false
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  frankiespeakin

  Christian Dogma of God killing his son for forgiveness of mankinds sins moral implications examined:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p38fOJ5Pb0&NR=1&feature=endscreen

  Clearly we see 2 different reality tunnels of the world and justice.